Friday, September 7, 2012

The Tribulations - 80's Reggae Band From Ithaca, NY Sow The Seeds Of John Brown's Body

As part of my ongoing quest to document the origins of the American ska and reggae scene of the mid- and late 1980's, I am profiling key musicians and bands who played an important part in giving birth to a uniquely American ska and reggae sound. One of those bands was The Tribulations who hailed from upstate New York and would serve as the roots for the very popular American reggae band John Brown's Body.

I remember The Tribulations with a mix of awe and envy. My band Bigger Thomas played a show with them at the legendary Wetlands in the early 1990's. During the sound check, I remember thinking that the band had great energy, a great look and a seriously focused determination to make reggae music on their own terms. They played a unique version of reggae (along the lines of my band's sound with ska, that mixed in their various influences and made it their own.) It also helped that they had two charismatic front men -- Kevin Kinsella and Elliot Martin -- and a killer horn section.

Ithaca, New York gave birth to The Tribulations in the late 80’s when Kinsella and his best friend and band bassist Josh Neuman founded the band as teens. Kinsella recalled hearing reggae for the first time while in Ireland in the late 80's as he related in an interview:

I was 15 years old. I got my musical calling from when I was living in Ireland. That is when I got the word that I was going to play music. Not that I knew at the time, but that is definitely where I got the calling. I was living over in Ireland for some time because my father is from there. (Bob Marley’s) Legend had been released and I heard that song "One Love (People Get Ready)" and really just moved me so deep. It stayed with me. I came back to America and bought his records. I didn’t know what to make of it. I thought it was Christian funk music. I put the record down and I thought it sounded like a Christian Rick James. I kept coming back to it though. In my hometown of Ithaca, New York, where I was born and grown, there was a great reggae show every Thursday. There was a club owner in town who actively brought in the legends of reggae music. I used to go down when I was 15 or 14 years old and see groups like the Meditations and Gladiators, The Itals, Culture. That fostered such a deep reverence of love for reggae music and the message of righteousness. I saw these people as prophets.

The Tribulations cut their chops as a young band playing gigs around Ithaca, and eventually were given the opportunity to open up for the legendary group, Toots and the Maytals which gave the band the break it needed. When Neuman graduated from high school and went off to college in Boston, The Tribulations pledged to stay together and a few of them relocated with him. While in Boston, the core of the band recruited new members. Many of the new members were brand new to reggae music. According to Kinsella, "The majority didn’t know anything about reggae, so we literally taught them the ABC’s. Of course, it was reggae through our eyes, and seeing that we weren’t Jamaican, I think it lent a unique flavor to our music."

As the band played more shows, Neuman decided to quit school and The Tribulations went on tour full time. Kinsella explained, "We wanted to play South by Southwest in 1991, so we set up a tour on the way down, and another on the way up-after that, we just kept going." In 1992, the Tribulations entered the Yamaha Soundcheck Competition along with 4,000 other bands from around the world making it to the finals which garnered the band massive international publicity. The competition also gave them the opportunity to record "The Gate" which was the first of two albums the band would record and release.

Following the success of the Yamaha Soundcheck Competition, Kinsella decided to quit the band. "I was young and felt we should have been further along. I thought we deserved more, I guess, and figured it would be better to go out gracefully. I didn’t want to become a ‘bar star,’ so I just decided I was stepping out."

After leaving the Tribulations, Kinsella began to seek the more spiritual side of roots reggae, and along with other members of The Tribulations founded John Brown’s Body. "We got recentered spiritually and musically and knew what we wanted. We just thought it would be better to come with a new name and come fresh." said Kinsella. John Brown's Body is now considered one of the premiere American reggae band's and Kinsella, who left the band to pursue a solo career remains a formidable reggae talent as well.

Below is rare video footage of the band performing a show in Ithaca, NY in 1988:

Finally, a very special treat! I discovered a free, downloadable track from the long out-of-print "The Gate" cassette only release. Enjoy!

Is there a way of getting a copy of cd from 90's as tribulation, someone stole mine, i miss it so much, seen and hung witkh them while in newport rhode island several times, even back stage. Love the music, need to hear that cd.

Who Is Marco On The Bass?

I heard ska and reggae music for the first time when I was 14 and it was love at first listen. I loved the sound, the look and the energy. It changed my life. A little bit later I picked up a bass and taught myself to play and in 1988 started the first ska/reggae band from New Jersey called Bigger Thomas. We are still together 29 years later. Maybe you've heard of us? No worries if you haven't! We've released 4 albums and toured the U.S and Canada a few times. As a musician I've had the good luck to meet and play with most of my musical heroes. That allows me to give readers the inside scoop on all the bands they love. I also tell the stories of the many bands who helped popularize ska in the U.S. and the U.K. I pay special attention to the birth of American ska and the stories of the bands and musicians who were ahead of their time and never received the recognition they deserved. I recently helped to form two new musical projects -- Rude Boy George, a band that performs ska, reggae and rocksteady versions of 80's new wave songs and Heavensbee, an original studio project that makes dub pop.

Rude Boy George - Love & Dancing -- New Wave Goes Ska!

I play bass in Rude Boy George -- a band the plays ska and reggae versions of 80's new wave classics. We've been releasing a song and video every other month during 2016 and 2017. The collection of songs is titled "Love and Dancing" and it is the second collection of 80's new wave tracks that Rude Boy George has recorded in a ska and reggae style. Check out a few of our videos including a new wave/reggae version of the Blondie classic "Atomic" and our versions of songs by Howard Jones, Bob Marley, Kim Wilde, Wang Chung, The Cure and Soft Cell!
"Love and Dancing" pays homage to the Human League who had a side project called The League Unlimited Orchestra and released a remix of their "Dare" album with that title in the early 80's. The album is available on Bandcamp.
Love and Dancing by Rude Boy George

RUDE BOY GEORGE LIVE!

Want to see Marco On The Bass perform with Rude Boy George (ska, reggae and rocksteady versions of 80's new wave songs)? Below is a list of upcoming shows:

Heavensbee - Dub Pop

I recently formed dub pop trio Heavensbee with my Rude Boy George bandmates Roger Apollon Jr. and Megg Howe. Seeking to create songs that explored the darker side of personal relationships, we holed up for six months over the late winter and early spring of 2015 in a tiny rehearsal space in New York City, where we worked to hone our sound. We approached each song like writing a scene from a movie or play, discussing the characters relationships and motivations. The result was "Soul Mates!"

Check out the video for our debut single "Bombs Away"

The songs we worked on take their inspiration from ska, dub reggae and Lover’s Rock (The Specials, Lee Perry), 80's new wave (Depeche Mode, Human League, Fun Boy Three) and indie rock (Lana Del Ray, the xx). The album is available on CD in the U.K. on Specialized Records or can be streamed/downloaded on Bandcamp.

Bigger Thomas Celebrating 29 Years in 2017!

Bigger Thomas is celebrating 29 years in 2017! Below is video from one of our earliest shows at the legendary City Gardens in Trenton, NJ in 1989 when we opened for Yellowman!

To celebrate our 25th anniversary back in 2013, we released "Ska In My Pocket: The Biggest & Bestest of Bigger Thomas" a digital only retrospective featuring twenty one of our favorite songs taken from the four albums and two demo tapes we released since forming the band in New Brunswick, NJ in 1988.

Its available for download on the Bandcamp link below. We hope you enjoy it!